Once upon a time
by ascoolsuchasi
Summary: Raven just got her appendix taken out and she meets her roommate, a strange and curious old man that promises her a story unlike any other, so long as she brings him a bottle labelled 'morphine' in the end.


A 'The Fall' AU.

Tw: depression suicide, alcoholism, on and off screen character death

* * *

Once upon a time

"There once was a boy," starts the professor, "with brown hair and blue, blue eyes, not unlike your skin, and he grew up in a lonely, old castle."

Raven furrows her brow, "Did he have a mommy and a daddy? Bothers and sisters?"

The professor nods, "Oh yes, that he did. He had a mummy who drank this special juice all the time. One that kept her young. And he had a daddy, but there was an accident and he passed away. His mummy remarried an older man, a friend of the boy's daddy. That man, the boy's new daddy, had son and his son became the boy's new brother."

"Was the brother nice?"

He nods, "Mmm, like most, he was capable of great kindness and great horror. Mostly, he left the boy alone."

The professor looks like he's going to add more, but shakes his head and smiles at the girl. She cocks her head to the side and grins all front teeth missing and happy.

"About the time the boy was your age, he started hearing voices. He was a very special boy, he could hear the thoughts of everyone around him! He was a mutant!" The professor makes a swish with both of his hands.

Raven's eyes light up and she whispers, "Wow."

"When the boy grew up, he met a lady - actually, more of a knight than a lady. She had pretty brown eyes and hair to match. He told the boy - well, I suppose I should call him a man now, shouldn't I? - abou-"

"What was his name, professor?"

The professor smiles and smoothes out the blanket across his legs. "Charles. Did you know it means strong and brave?"

Raven shakes her head 'no' and asks, "Was he?"

The professor cocks his head to the side and thinks a moment before he answers, "He tried. He tried very, very hard, but life sometimes gets the better of you and that's what happened to him. But I don't want to spoil the story.

"Charles asked the lady knight what she needed and she told him of a woman that could hear thoughts, just like him, and could turn into diamond. And a man that could create hurricanes and tornadoes and a red skinned man that could teleport. She told him that these people worked for a man named Sebastian Shaw and told him that he was a very bad man. She asked if he would help her stop him and his evil plans."

Raven's eyes glimmered in the low light of the hospital room and asks, "Did he?"

The professor smiled and says, "I'm getting to that little one, I'm getting to it," and coughs for a minute or three before he continues with, "He said yes, of course, and they flew all the way to the U.S., where Charles had to convince a group of very powerful men that mutants were real."

"Were they mutants, too?"

The professor chuckles and says, "Oh no, my dear. This was back in a time where people didn't know about us. Anyhow, with the help of his telepathy, Charles convinces - no Raven, dear, not in that way, he showed them - them that what he and the lady knight were telling them was true."

"Then what happened?"

"The two of them ended up in a boat in Miami. Do you know where Miami is, Raven?"

Raven nods her head vigorously and points towards the West and says, "That way."

The professor laughs and says, "Yes, that way," and before Raven could ask, he says, "They were in Miami to stop Shaw, who had a boat that was supposed to stop there. On the wiuuiuay up the deck, Charles felt this," his hands swipe in the air in the shape of a circle then iuaiuuii wave, "this strange and powerful force that felt like anger and sadness and pure determination."

When Raven quirked her eyebrows in confusion, he asks, "You know when you take a test in school and you think you did the best ever, that your teacher marked you the A, only to find that you didn't do the best? That you only got a C? Then you decide that the next time the teacher says there's a test, you study your hardest and try your best. It's like that, what Charles felt."

Raven nods her head and the professor continues, "He felt that from the ocean. There was somebody there! A powerful mutant! He was in the water and controlling the anchor from Shaw's boat; trying to stop him from leaving and almost drowning. Charles, sensing that this man was likely to pass if he didn't stop, jumped into the water to save him. And he tol-"

"Why did Charles want to stop the man in the water?"

The professor worried at his bottom lip for a moment before setting his arms down on his legs and says, "Because he realized then that some stars are too bright to burn out."

Raven still looks like she was going to ask another question, but Charles shakes his head and says, "It's late now, my dear. See how the sun is setting? Let's stop here and continue tomorrow?"

Raven smiled and nods and says, "Okay professor." and tucks herself under the thin sheets of her bed and says, "Good night."

The professor smiles and says, "Good night little one," and a sense of calm and safety and happiness fills the room and Raven's eyes drop shut and she snores softly.

When Raven wakes up, the nurse, an older blonde haired woman on maybe the wrong side of forty is walking the professor out of the room, the low drum of hospital lights playing against the silver of her skin.

She sits up on the bed and the sheets pool around her small hips. She stares at the wall and contemplates writing mommy another letter.

A few minutes later another nurse comes in and smiles and there's a residual feedback of _calm calm all is good_ that fills the room so thick that Raven is pretty sure she can taste it in the back of her mouth.

The nurse asks, "How are you feeling?" and Raven shrugs and says, "I dunno. Fine I guess. Where'd they take the professor? He's supposed to finish telling me a story."

The nurse smiles wider and maybe a little disingenuous and says, "He's just out for a stroll. He'll be back. Now, how's your belly? Can I check your stitches?"

Raven nods and pulls up her dressing gown and tilts back a little. Her stitches stretch and she winces a little when the nurse places a gloved hand by the start of them.

The nurse pulls back and says, "You're looking good, Raven. How about we take a walk and see the other kids?"

Raven grins and jumps off the bed, stumbling on the landing then rushing out the door.

Later, when the sun is setting, Raven walks back into her room and jumps up on her bed and smiles when she see the professor with a book open on his lap and looking out the window.

"Hi professor!"

The professor turns his head and gives Raven a small smile.

"Good evening, little one. Did you enjoy your day?"

Raven nods and says, "Uh huh, there's this boy named Rex and we played dinos together!"

"Well that sounds fun. What dinosaur were you?"

Raven makes a growling sound, pulls her arms back to look like claws and says, "Velociraptor!"

The professor laughs and says, "That's a mighty scary dinosaur you make, Raven."

They sit in silence for a moment, where Raven fidgets and can't sit still. Eventually the professor sets his book aside and asks, "Would you like to hear the rest of the story?"

Raven nods her head vigorously and says, "Charles had just jumped into the water!"

"Mmm, yes. Charles jumped into the ocean and grabbed onto the person there and whispered into his mind _you're not alone_ and at the same time, felt everything that that man had felt. The man let go of his hold on the ship and let Charles swim him to the boat."

"Then what happened?"

The professor smiles and says, "Patients, my dear, is a virtue. Anyhow, the lady knight took Charles and the man from the water to where she worked - back to the very powerful men. That's where they were introduced to a man in black and his work. He said that he knew about the mutants and that he would like to help.

"So they went to where the man in black worked and met a young man that was a scientist and was brilliant. And guess what."

Raven perks up and her eyes shine and she asks, "What?"

The professor flicks out his wrists in a huge gesture and says, "He was a mutant, too!"

"What could he do? Could he fly? See through walls? Shoot laser beams from his eyes?"

The professor chuckles and says, "No, no. He had the most amazing feet. They were like gorilla's and he could hold on to anything with them. He could even hang upside down!"

Raven jumps up on her bed and says, "Wow! That's amazing!"

The professor nods and says, "It was." then shakes his head quickly and says, "Never mind," when Raven gives him an odd look. "The scientist showed Charles and the man from the water one of his inventions. He called it '_Cerebro_'. Do you know what cerebro means?"

Raven shakes her head 'no'. The professor smiles and says, "It Spanish for brain. It helped Charles enhance his telepathy."

Raven's jaw drops and she says, "No way! That's like stuff from fairytales!"

The professor smile turns sad, "This story is kind of like a fairytale, isn't it? Anyhow, with the help of Cerebro, Charles was able to find a list of mutants that were in desperate need of help. And after a talk with the man in black and the lady knight, Charles and the man from the water set out across America to find these mutants.

"They went all across the country. From California to Wisconsin to Florida to anywhere that you can think of. They talked to a huge lot of people, but only four came back with them to the lady knight and the man in black. And everything was-"

"Where did Charles and the man from the water meet them? What could they do?"

The professor smiles, "I was getting to that little one. There was a dancer who had the most beautiful wings that either Charles or the man from the water ever saw. She was from a place in Nevada and they called her Angel on account of her wings. There was a taxi driver in Brooklyn that could adapt to anything and they called him Darwin for it. In New Mexico they were able to get a kid that they called Havoc out of prison. He was able to shoot an energy beam from his chest. And then another kid from California. He had a sonic scream."

Raven rocks in bed and nearly visibly shakes, "That's so cool!"

"It was." The professor had a far away look in his eyes when he continues, "Shaw attacked the place everyone was staying at while Charles and the man from the water were gone. Darwin passed that night trying to protect everyone and Angel left with Shaw, because he promised her something that Charles never though to. After the attack everyone moved into Charles' old, lonely castle. And with everyone there, it didn't seem so lonely.

"At the castle, Charles, the lady knight, and the man from the water helped train their teammates. Helped strengthen their powers. By the end, Havoc could hit any target and Banshee could fly. The scientist even turned big, blue, and furry!"

Raven made a face, "How did _that_ happen?"

The professor chuckles, "There was an accident in the lab he was working in."

"Months later, on the telly, the President of the US gave a speech saying that the country would o to war with Russia if they went through with using Cuba as a strategic position. It was then that Charles and the man from the water knew that this was their chance to catch and stop Shaw."

The professor stops and coughs and he coughs for some while and Raven gets worried and asks him if there is anything that she can do. He coughs for a little while more, before saying in a bit of a hoarse voice, "Go to room 857, in there, there is a bottle labeled 'morphine'. Could you fetch it for me?"

She nods and hops off her bed, "Sure professor. I'll be back soon."

Ten or so minutes later, Raven runs back in the room.

"Here you go professor!" she says, and hands him the bottle.

"Good, thank you Raven." He opens the bottle slowly and asks, "Raven, could you be a dear and get me some water?"

She nods, "Okay professor," and she's out the door again.

He looks down to the pills in his hand and blinks slowly. He brings his hand to his face and the pills slide into his mouth.

Raven comes back a few minutes later and hand the professor his water. He takes a drink of it and she looks up expectantly. He swallows and says, "They fought a great and terrible battle. They defeated Shaw and the diamond woman and the rest of his team, but the man from the water didn't make it back."

There was a tear running down Raven's little cheek. The professor reaches over to her and wipes it clean. "Don't cry," he says, "he will always be remembered as a good man. And that's okay."

Raven sniffles, "What if it's not?"

"You have to believe it is."

They were silent for a moment.

"Did Charles ever fall in love?"

The professor closes his eyes and there's a faint smile on his lips, "Yes, yes he did."

It's quiet for a few minutes before Raven pips up with, "With who, professor?"

But he doesn't answer.

"Professor?"

And he doesn't move.

"Professor?"

Raven crawls on to his bed and on to him and her little hands grab onto his dressing gown and tries to shake him.

"Professor?"

The machines around the professor start to beep and nurses rush in.

One comes up to Raven and picks her up and off him. She latches on to the nurses fur and cries. She asks, "What's wrong with the professor?"

The nurse coos and runs a hand through her hair and says, "C'mon little one. It's alright. It's going to be okay," and walks her out of the room.

The last thing she hears from the room is, "Professor Charles Xavier, time of death: four twenty-three pm."


End file.
